Patrick Reed’s revival has benefits

Aptly, it was Captain America who rose up in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.

It might have taken a while for Patrick Reed to get past his Masters hangover, but 16 months after he slipped on his green jacket for his lone major championship victory, it seems like the feisty Texan is back.

Reed, whose heroics in the Ryder Cup earned him the patriotic moniker, emerged from the star-studded leaderboard to shoot a final-round 69 Sunday and win the Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City.

His four-round total of 16-under gave him a one-shot victory over Abraham Ancer, while Harold Varner III and Jon Rahm finished at 14-under and late charges from Adam Scott (13-under), Jordan Spieth (12-under) and Rory McIlroy (12-under) all came up short.

“It’s amazing, just to be back and to feel like I’ve been playing some solid golf and finally having it pay off and to come out as a victory, it’s been a while. Been a little too long honestly,” said Reed, who started the day with a one-shot lead. “But what better place to do it than here. Have Statue of Liberty in the background, Presidents Cup here in 2017 and hearing ‘Captain America’ and ‘U-S-A’ all week, it was a good time to get a ‘W.’ ”

Earlier this season, Reed was mired in a slump that came to a head with a missed cut at the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in May. He said he felt tired and his coach said he looked “lethargic.” So he rented a house out in the Hamptons and spent 10 days with his wife Justine and their children, not touching a club for the longest break from golf he can remember in his life.

His first round back was with financier and golfing royalty Jimmy Dunne at National Golf Links, and he drove the short par-4 first hole and made a 6-foot putt for eagle.

“This is a good start,” he remembered thinking. “I felt refreshed, and to take 10 days off and to start it back by hanging out with the Dunne man and playing some golf and hanging out with Justine and playing rather than actually grinding was the right way to get back into it. It got me back into seeing golf shots rather than going to the range and grinding it out.”

The revival resulted in Reed’s first win since the 2018 Masters, and his seventh career victory on Tour. The mercurial 29-year-old also won this tournament in 2016 at Bethpage — yet this one might be a bit more meaningful.

With the FedEx Cup playoffs now being three events instead of four, only the top-70 make it to the second leg next week in Chicago, and then only the top-30 will make it to the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta the following week. The condensed schedule assured Reed a spot in the elite field and moved him to second in the standings behind only Brooks Koepka, with a $15 million prize going to the winner of the season-long race.

This also solidified Reed as a likely member of the Presidents Cup team, with captain Tiger Woods surely set to make him a captain’s pick if he doesn’t get into the top-eight in the standings for automatic qualifying after next week.

“It was definitely on my mind a little more than other weeks,” Reed said. “But the biggest thing for me was just to put that behind me and just focus on the golf I’m playing because, at the end of the day, if you play good golf, that all takes care of itself.”

On what was a beautiful and blustery day at this modern, rollicking golf course, the tournament was up in the air until the very end. At one point, Rahm held a two-shot lead, and Varner and Ancer both had chances down the stretch. But there was no stopping Reed, whose 10-day break has brought Captain America back to life.

“It’s great coming out and playing great golf,” Reed said, “but it’s another thing to be able to bring home hardware.”

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